Spring 2006 is officially over...this is the archived version of our Season 2006 Activities.....

Spring 2006 is officially over....this is the archived
version of our Season 2006 activities....

Well, as you know, spring is here in Omaha can have many, varied weather
patterns. It is not unusual to have snow, we always have lots of rain and then
there's the odd tornados or three. Plus, to tell the truth, the temperatures can
be up and down like a yo-yo. To put it mildly, the temperature can be very
interesting.

So, in keeping with
previous years, we were asking several questions for Spring 2006 in Omaha.

Will we get snow in
spring [i.e. when will the last snow fall]??? Answer....luckily, the last snow
for the year was on the first day of Spring...go figure!!!!!

How much rain will we
have this season????
Answer....Not enough....it's been a long, hot Spring which does not bode
well for Summer!!!

How many tornados
will
we have this season???
Answer....luckily, only two!!!

What will the highest temperature be (i.e., when can we start
wearing shorts again)??? Answer.....See
below!!!!

What will the lowest temperature for the season be (i.e., how
long will we have to keep our winter coats out)???
Answer...See below!!!

How long will the war with Iraq take?????
Answer...It's going on with no sign
of ending anytime soon. Thus far, over 2,500 US Military Personnel have paid
the ultimate price for Bush's folly!!!

When do we start attacking North Korea???
Answer...No yet. But, the North
Koreans are starting to feel lonely again, so they've started to rattle the
sabers again!!!!

All these questions, and many others, will be answered before
the end of spring.

So, what's on the agenda for the Burton's in spring 2006....By
the way, we're handling photos differently this year. Instead of loading them
onto one single page, we'll be using hyperlinks to individual new pages. This is
to improve site performance by reducing the load time soft reach page. A full
seasons worth of photos takes forever to load. Hopefully, this will help people
with slower connections!!!!

Wednesday, March
22, 2006

Start of Spring...yippee....we've survived winter.

And so, Spring 2006 has now started....in with sunshine, out
with snow and freezing temperatures. But, with Omaha, you can never really be
sure what the weather is going to do!!! And 2006 was no different.....our
welcome to spring was a monster snow storm which dumped 11-12" of the white
stuff on us. Well, actually, Lisa was the one that it impacted as the webmaster
was in Valparaiso, IN, and managed to avoid all the snow. But, at least Lisa did
get two consecutive snow days out of it. What a way to welcome in Spring 2006!!!

By the time the webmaster got home the following Friday
[3/24], this was all that was left of the snow storm....

And so begins Spring 2006....

Monday,
March 27 - Wednesday March 29, 2006:Paducah,
Kentucky

At 2:30pm on Monday, March 27, the webmaster left Omaha for a
two day "new staff orientation" meting in Paducah, Kentucky, where CSI
has their corporate headquarters. What makes this entire trip, and the seminar,
a little bit of a joke, as the webmaster has now been at CSI for two years,
and they're only now just sending him on a "new staff orientation" seminar.

Anyway, getting to Paducah was relatively straight forward.
However, getting back to Omaha basically involved the webmaster bouncing around
a good portion of the Midwest. See the following maps for details.

Paducah is, to put it mildly, very interesting. It's in the
middle of the bible belt and has not voted for anyone left of Attila the Hun
since the civil war. It's also an economically relatively poor area that is still
recovering from the end of the cold war and the collapse of the American
manufacturing industry. But, it's on the banks of a major river [the Ohio], so
it's a relatively pretty, albeit sleepy, little town. Here are some photos of Paducah...

And so, after two days of putting faces to names, it was time
for the webmaster to head home to Omaha....after a six hour sojourn to actually
get from Paducah back to Omaha. And, Spring 2006 rolls on....

Thursday, March 30, 2006:
Storms

Of course, spring in Omaha would not be spring without the
threat of tornadoes. And, this year, they came early!!!! On Thursday, March 30,
we had three tornado warnings in the space of forty five minutes, with one
confirmed touch down. It was a particularly nasty storm system, as illustrated
by the following radar map..

For those of you interested, the tornado which hit Omaha as a
result of this storm was classified as an F0, or a "weak tornado". Mind you,
the webmaster still has trouble coping with the concept of a "weak" tornado.
But, the classification of a tornado is determined by the amount of damage it
causes, and it's strength is assigned according to the Fujita Tornado
Scale:

The lower limit is the beginning of
hurricane wind speed; peels surface off roofs; mobile homes pushed
off foundations or overturned; moving autos pushed off the roads;
attached garages may be destroyed.

These winds are very unlikely. The
small area of damage they might produce would probably not be
recognizable along with the mess produced by F4 and F5 wind that
would surround the F6 winds. Missiles, such as cars and
refrigerators would do serious secondary damage that could not be
directly identified as F6 damage. If this level is ever achieved,
evidence for it might only be found in some manner of ground swirl
pattern, for it may never be identifiable through engineering
studies

Anyway, that's the weather lesson for today. While the
tornado warnings on Thursday may have been the first for Spring 2006, they sure
as heck won't be the last!!!

Friday, March
31 - Friday April 7, 2006:
Spring
Break

This was Lisa's first real break for the year, and man did
she deserve it....

Lisa spent the week essentially reading, sleeping and watching her soaps. While
the webmaster was in Omaha for the week, he was so busy that we didn't really
get to see too much of each other during the day. But, that's the price of being
able to work from home. It's also what happens at this time of year in the IT
Industry...the release of Spring Mandates!!!!

Unfortunately, with the coming of spring means the start of lawn mowing....the
webmaster attempted to put it off as long as possible, but had to break down and
cut the grass for the first time this year. There's now no stopping until
November...darn it!!!! As with our usual practice, here are the obligatory
photos of the signs of spring. Also, the photos of the front of the house are
important....in the next few weeks we are having the whole front landscape
changed. This is our "home maintenance" project for the year!!!!

During the week, we also had to do some work on Lisa's laptop to bring it
up-to-date with both the operating system and applications. This of course
caused chaos in the office.....

The other thing we got done during the week was booking the tickets for our
Australia trip later this year. We leave on Saturday, July 8 to arrive in
Melbourne July 10.

Alas, with the booking of the trip to Australia, Lisa's spring break was over.
What a bummer!!!!!!

Friday, April 14, 2006:

Easter for us this year was a reasonably quiet affair. Lisa
and the webmaster went for lunch at Biaggi's in Omaha and then for a couple of
quiet restorative cordials at a local bar. All in all a very quiet and relaxing
day which was exactly what the doctor ordered....especially considering that the
webmaster had to leave for Valparaiso the next day......

Saturday, April
15, 2006

Still not quite sure why we included this
one is here. This is the day that every tax payer hates: Tax Day. All tax payers
must have their tax returns either into the IRS or the envelopment must be
stamped by today. The even crazier thing is that 33 million Americans will spend
today racing about to either get filings complete, or file for extensions. All
post office's are open until midnight to accommodate these idiots. The really
dumb thing is: this date DOES NOT CHANGE!!!!. We all know it's coming, year
after year. How much brain power does it take to be a little bit organized
(especially with the IRS...the crowd that brought down Al Capone). Screw this
midnight crap!!!!

Anyways, as usual, we had all our returns filed on time. We
even get some money back from Uncle Sam...

Saturday, May 20,
2006:
Garden
Landscaping

As mentioned earlier, this year we're getting our front
garden re-landscaped. We were planning on getting this done in Fall last year,
but a small case of dry rot in a window and door frame put a kybosh on that
idea!!!! But, it needed to be done urgently, so better late than never!!!

So, on Monday, May 8, the local landscape contractors turned
up and start demolishing our wonderful garden landscape. It was supposed to take
only 2-3 days but, two weeks later, they are still working on it. But, they are
doing a wonderful job, so we really can't complain too much.

Anyway, here are some photos of the landscape in motion.....

Day 1:

Day 3:

Day 6:

As you can see, it's all coming along....just a little bit
slower than we all thought. Hopefully, though, it will be all completed by
Memorial Day...but, we shall see....

Monday, May 29,
2006

Memorial Day is traditionally a day to have a party. It's the
official start of the BBQ season and, more importantly, the driving season. So,
what did we do.....well, actually, not much. On Friday [5/26], the webmaster
arrived back in Omaha for Lisa's last day of the "official school year". Not
that it's the end of teaching...Lisa is teaching summer school which starts on
Wednesday, June 7. So, while it may not have been the official end of the year,
it was time to party anyway, which is what we did.

On the Saturday, Lisa and the webmaster basically just goofed
off around the house. Watched TV and just kinda goofed off all day. Just what
the doctor ordered for both of us.

On the Sunday, it was time for "Cheese Burgers in
Paradise".....yes, as in the Jimmy Buffet song. He owns a restaurant here in
Omaha (suitably called....yes, you guessed it, "Cheese Burger In Paradise").
There specialty....you guessed it...CHEESE BURGERS.......Then it was off to play
trivia at another local bar of ours.

On the Monday [the actual day for Memorial Day], while Lisa
relaxed inside, the webmaster did what 35million other husbands in America were
doing...lawn work!!!!! But, this time, the landscaping is actually getting close
to being done. Here are the latest and greatest photos.....almost done!!!!

Only just a few more things to do and we'll finally be
finished. The landscaping contractors have promised that it will be completed in
the next few days. Unfortunately, Lisa and the webmaster will believe it when
they see it. Mind you, they are doing an excellent job. It's just that it's
taking far longer than first envisaged

And so, that was the Memorial Day long weekend for 2006.
While others may think is sounds dull and boring, it was exactly what Lisa and
the webmaster needed and wanted...

....and do on marches spring 2006....

Friday,
June 2, 2006:
Phil
Kronk's Farewell

On Friday, June 2, Lisa, the webmaster and a few other
friends gathered at the Lighthouse Tavern to bid farewell to Phil Kronk. He's
another Aussie living here in Omaha....the webmaster used to work with him back
in the ANZ in Melbourne. After being in the US since 1994, Phil has decided to
return home to Australia. So, in accordance with good Australian tradition, we
all went to the local bar to have a few congratulatory drinks to wish Phil all
the best back in Australia. Mind you, the crazy thing is that Lisa and the
Webmaster will be seeing him again in less than six weeks time...this time, back
in Melbourne. Talk about a small world...

We all wish Phil the best back in Australia....

Saturday,
June 17, 2006:
Landscaping

Yup, it's finally been completed!!! Our front
landscaping has officially been completed for 2006. Anything else will have to
wait until next year. Now, of course, we just need some rain so the webmaster
doesn't have to go out and water every other night. That is a drag!!!

Anyway, below are the official photos of the
finished product/project:

It may have taken a couple weeks longer than
anticipated.....and cost about double what we originally planned for.....but,
the finished product was well worth it. Now we wait until Spring 2007 to do the
final landscape work....

Wednesday, June
21, 2006End
of Spring

This will be the last posting of the Spring season 2006.

And so, that was spring 2006...

Firstly, here are the travel statistics for the last three
months. And, the
availability sucked!!!!! So, here are the official statistics for the flights
taken by the Omaha Burton's over Spring 2006....

Date

Airline

Origin

Destination

Flight Status

Reason

Added Bonus

Friday, March 24, 2006

Southwest

Chicago

Omaha

1 Hour Late

Unknown

None

Monday, March 27, 2006

Northwest

Omaha

Memphis

On Time

Unknown

None

Monday, March 27, 2006

Northwest

Memphis, TN

Paducah, KY

On Time

Unknown

None

Wednesday, March 29, 2006

American

Paducah, KY

St. Louis, IL

On Time

Unknown

None

Wednesday, March 29, 2006

Northwest

St. Louis, IL

Minneapolis, MN

On Time

Unknown

None

Wednesday, March 29, 2006

Northwest

Minneapolis, MN

Omaha, NE

30 Minutes Late

Unknown

None

Monday, April 17, 2006

Southwest

Omaha, NE

Chicago, IL

20 Minutes Late

Unknown

None

Friday, April 28, 2006

Southwest

Chicago, IL

Omaha, NE

On Time

Unknown

None

Monday, May 15, 2006

Southwest

Omaha, NE

Chicago, IL

On Time

Unknown

None

Friday, May 26, 2006

Southwest

Chicago, IL

Omaha, NE

On Time

Unknown

None

Monday, June 19, 2006

Southwest

Omaha, NE

Chicago, IL

1 Hour Late

Traffic in Chicago

None

This corresponds to an on time percentage of 64%....This
is not real good. It just goes to prove that all US airlines are as crappy as
each other!!!!!

Well, that enough about travel. For all you weather fans out
there, without further ado, here are the season's weather statistics

This will be the last posting of the season 2006. Spring is officially
over, and summer is with us. Mind you, not that the weather has changed to
much in the last few days. And, now for some season statistics:

Here are the weather statistics for Spring 2006....

Category

Date

High Temperature

Low Temperature

Coldest Day

March 23, 2006

33ºF

19ºF

Warmest Day

June 9, 2006

98ºF

75ºF

Finally, the average high and lows for Spring 2004

Category

Temperature (°F)

Average High Temperature

73ºF

Average Low Temperature

52ºF

For those of you that are really interested in the weather,
here is the daily, maximum and minimum, temperatures for Omaha over Spring 2006:

This should keep you "weather nuts" happy for a while.
Remember, people from down under, all temperatures are in ºF.

So, that's pretty much been our Spring 2006. Alas
therefore,
this will probably be the last update for season 2006 (unless we remember
something really fantastic that happened!!!). Hope you've all had as much fun
watching this season unfold as much as we have. In case you haven't guessed, the
next Spring posting will be in late March 2006...see ya'all back then. Enjoy the rest
of the year. Ya'all come back, ya hear!!!!!

As usual, if there are things you wish to comment on, and/or
provide feedback on, use one of the following links: